P rotests were held across the globe on Saturday to speak out against a US-led strike on Syria, as world leaders ask Washington to wait for the results of a UN report before taking military action.

Around 200 people gathered outside the White House on Saturday to voice their opposition against a military strike on Syria and demand that Congress votes “no” on the issue. Demonstrators chanted, “They say more war; we say no war” and carried signs stating that war on Syria would be “Built on a Lie.”“There is a grass-roots uprising against the Democrats and the Republicans,” founder of the anti-war group Code Pink, Medea Benjamin, told AP. “We do not want another war,” she said, pointing to a broad anti-war feeling in the US.

Activists also hit the streets of New York, carrying signs which read, “No more wars for corporate profit” and “Cut the Pentagon, not food stamps.”

WARmerica: Protesters in New York rally against strike on Syria

In Canada, a rally was held across the street from the US consulate in Toronto. People gathered to demonstrate against Washington’s recent efforts to garner support for a military strike.
The organizer of the protest, Sid Lacombe, said that people should not believe US claims that Assad’s government launched the August 21 chemical attack in a Damascus suburb. “We are not going to support the United States government as it launches yet another incredibly brutal, immoral and illegal war based on lies,” Lacombe told The Canadian Press.
Demonstrations were also held in front of the US embassy in Ottawa, Canada.

Three-hundred people rallied outside the US embassy in the Lebanese capital of Beirut, where protests entered their second day.
Activists also gathered in the Philippines and Pakistan to voice their opposition to a US-led strike on Syria.

Pope Francis held a five-hour prayer vigil in Vatican City for peace in Syria, asking world leaders to remove their nations from a “spiral of sorrow and death.” He stressed that “violence and war lead only to death.”

Protesters across the world rally against military strike on Syria

Syrian opposition speaks out against military strike

Rebel groups have voiced their opposition against a possible US-led strike on Syria, arguing that it would only serve American interests.

The Syrian Islamic Front posted a message on its Facebook page cautioning its followers against supporting a strike. The group stated that military intervention would only benefit Washington – not Syrians who are seeking to topple Assad.

Another group condemned the idea of a strike in a YouTube video, saying that “we reject Western military intervention in Syria and consider it a new aggression against Muslims.”